SSA erroneously claims “You have earnings not covered by social security”

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Nutmeg
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SSA erroneously claims “You have earnings not covered by social security”

Post by Nutmeg »

On the document “Your Social Security Statement,” the SSA claims in an addendum that “You have earnings not covered by Social Security.” It goes on to say that the work was most likely “for federal, state, or local government or in a foreign country. These earnings are from a job where you or your employer did not pay social security taxes.”

i believe the SSA is mistaken. While some employment was for a state government or in a foreign country, social security taxes were always withheld from paychecks, as evidenced by W-2s, which I have saved all these years. Has a Boglehead encountered this before, and if so, what did you do to convince the SSA otherwise?

The same document states that we could have a reduction in benefits because of either the Windfall Elimination Provision or the Government Pension Offset. There is no government pension, so we have no concern there. The WEP description also states that it doesn’t apply if “you have 30 or more years of substantial earnings covered by Social Security.” As that test is met, it seems that the WEP doesn’t apply, and therefore that there should be no effect even if SSA is wrong. Do you know of any possible other implications?

The only other explanation I can see is that for some reason SSA thinks the withheld money wasn’t paid to SSA, or that the employer didn’t pay its share. But if the SSA had info that a large multinational corporation using a large well-known payroll company and a famous big accounting firm did not pay money owed to SSA, it would seem that that would be a huge scandal that would have been revealed in the many years since this would have happened. Your thoughts?
Last edited by Nutmeg on Sat Aug 13, 2022 7:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
tibbitts
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Re: SSA erroneously claims “You have earnings not covered by social security”

Post by tibbitts »

Nutmeg wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 1:24 pm On the document “Your Social Security Statement,” the SSA claims in an addendum that “You have earnings not covered by Social Security.” It goes on to say that the work was most likely “for federal, state, or local government or in a foreign country. These earning are from a job where you or your employer did not pay social security taxes.”

i believe the SSA is mistaken. While some employment was for a state government or in a foreign country, social security taxes were always withheld from paychecks, as evidenced by W-2s, which I have saved all these years. Has a Boglehead encountered this before, and if so, what did you do to convince the SSA otherwise?

The same document states that we could have a reduction in benefits because of either the Windfall Elimination Provision or the Government Pension Offset. There is no government pension, so we have no concern there. The WEP description also states that it doesn’t apply if “you have 30 or more years of substantial earnings covered by Social Security.” As that test is met, it seems that the WEP doesn’t apply, and therefore that there should be no effect even if SSA is wrong. Do you know of any possible other implications?

The only other explanation I can see is that for some reason SSA thinks the withheld money wasn’t paid to SSA, or that the employer didn’t pay its share. But if the SSA had info that a large multinational corporation using a large well-known payroll company and a famous big accounting firm did not pay money owed to SSA, it would seem that that would be a huge scandal that would have been revealed in the many years since this would have happened. Your thoughts?
Wow you've done some impressive record-keeping. So are the earnings that are shown in your SSA account exactly what you think they should be, with nothing missing?
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Re: SSA erroneously claims “You have earnings not covered by social security”

Post by BarbBrooklyn »

Call them and make an appointment to talk to them.
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JayB
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Re: SSA erroneously claims “You have earnings not covered by social security”

Post by JayB »

I also received this erroneous notice -- for the first time this year after many years of no such notices with my SS earnings and benefits estimate statement. I have no idea why and SS was not at all helpful when I called them up.

When I file for SS benefits in a couple of years, I plan to simply indicate that I am not receiving any pension based on income not subject to SS tax. If they disagree, the onus is on them to prove otherwise.
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Nutmeg
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Re: SSA erroneously claims “You have earnings not covered by social security”

Post by Nutmeg »

tibbitts wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 1:50 pm
Nutmeg wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 1:24 pm On the document “Your Social Security Statement,” the SSA claims in an addendum that “You have earnings not covered by Social Security.” It goes on to say that the work was most likely “for federal, state, or local government or in a foreign country. These earning are from a job where you or your employer did not pay social security taxes.”

i believe the SSA is mistaken. While some employment was for a state government or in a foreign country, social security taxes were always withheld from paychecks, as evidenced by W-2s, which I have saved all these years. Has a Boglehead encountered this before, and if so, what did you do to convince the SSA otherwise?

The same document states that we could have a reduction in benefits because of either the Windfall Elimination Provision or the Government Pension Offset. There is no government pension, so we have no concern there. The WEP description also states that it doesn’t apply if “you have 30 or more years of substantial earnings covered by Social Security.” As that test is met, it seems that the WEP doesn’t apply, and therefore that there should be no effect even if SSA is wrong. Do you know of any possible other implications?

The only other explanation I can see is that for some reason SSA thinks the withheld money wasn’t paid to SSA, or that the employer didn’t pay its share. But if the SSA had info that a large multinational corporation using a large well-known payroll company and a famous big accounting firm did not pay money owed to SSA, it would seem that that would be a huge scandal that would have been revealed in the many years since this would have happened. Your thoughts?
Wow you've done some impressive record-keeping. So are the earnings that are shown in your SSA account exactly what you think they should be, with nothing missing?
Oh, thanks. Actually, only a few years were in a foreign country, so I just needed to check the file folders for those years. The state government employment didn’t result in a pension.

Yes, the earnings shown in the SSA account were what we expect, because for the vast majority of them, the amount shown is the maximum amount subject to social security, and as a result, the exact dollar amount earned doesn’t appear on the statement.
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Re: SSA erroneously claims “You have earnings not covered by social security”

Post by Nutmeg »

Deleted duplicate post.
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Nutmeg
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Re: SSA erroneously claims “You have earnings not covered by social security”

Post by Nutmeg »

JayB wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 2:08 pm
When I file for SS benefits in a couple of years, I plan to simply indicate that I am not receiving any pension based on income not subject to SS tax. If they disagree, the onus is on them to prove otherwise.
I would like to believe that your last statement is true, but I am not sure.

For individual income tax purposes, the onus is on us to prove that we are entitled to our deductions, etc.

For social security benefit payments, the SSA is the one with the money.
JayB
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Re: SSA erroneously claims “You have earnings not covered by social security”

Post by JayB »

Nutmeg wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 2:24 pm
JayB wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 2:08 pm
When I file for SS benefits in a couple of years, I plan to simply indicate that I am not receiving any pension based on income not subject to SS tax. If they disagree, the onus is on them to prove otherwise.
I would like to believe that your last statement is true, but I am not sure.

For individual income tax purposes, the onus is on us to prove that we are entitled to our deductions, etc.

For social security benefit payments, the SSA is the one with the money.
SS's most recent estimate of my SS benefits, plus my earnings history it was based on, was right in line with previous annual statements over the years. So SS would have to point out a (nonexistent) pension based on earnings not subject to SS taxes that I am receiving.
123
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Re: SSA erroneously claims “You have earnings not covered by social security”

Post by 123 »

Nutmeg wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 2:17 pm ...Yes, the earnings shown in the SSA account were what we expect, because for the vast majority of them, the amount shown is the maximum amount subject to social security, and as a result, the exact dollar amount earned doesn’t appear on the statement.
So on the face of it the SSA notice would seem to be correct. If your earnings exceeded the SSA maximum and you worked overseas you would have had earnings not covered by SSA. I don't think its a real issue however.
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Re: SSA erroneously claims “You have earnings not covered by social security”

Post by Wilderness Librarian »

Nutmeg wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 2:24 pm
JayB wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 2:08 pm
When I file for SS benefits in a couple of years, I plan to simply indicate that I am not receiving any pension based on income not subject to SS tax. If they disagree, the onus is on them to prove otherwise.
I would like to believe that your last statement is true, but I am not sure.

For individual income tax purposes, the onus is on us to prove that we are entitled to our deductions, etc.

For social security benefit payments, the SSA is the one with the money.
My interpretation of the matter too,

I started my application for SS a couple of weeks ago. I am subject to the WEP which both myself and the SSA knew. But what counts and what doesn't for WEP calculation was not terribly clear. I tried unsucessfully 4 times in previous years to clarify this. I think I have finally done so and sent SSA the relevant paperwork. Hopefully they will accept this as final but may not. But SSA did have record I would be subject & the local agent gave me a difficult time over the phone. Also they are insistent on seeing original documents not photocopies - so make sure you don't throw anything relevant away.
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Re: SSA erroneously claims “You have earnings not covered by social security”

Post by JayDee37 »

I have the exact same issue!

I work for local government, and we do have a pension. But we also contribute to SS. The full percentage of SS and Medicare taxes are withheld from my earnings each paycheck. Our pension is in addition to SS (and it's a smaller pension than, say, public school teachers receive, since all our employees are also enrolled in SS). But even though I have the appropriate amount of SS withdrawn from my pay, every year my SS statement says that I have earnings not covered by SS. The earnings covered by SS listed on the statement are always my earnings for the year. And I pay the SS taxes every year. So I'm not sure why they think I have uncovered earnings.

I have not called them up to discuss this (I have another 20 years until I plan to claim SS so my situation is not time-sensitive), but I would be interested to hear what others learn if they do call.
Nutmeg wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 2:24 pm
JayB wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 2:08 pm
When I file for SS benefits in a couple of years, I plan to simply indicate that I am not receiving any pension based on income not subject to SS tax. If they disagree, the onus is on them to prove otherwise.
I would like to believe that your last statement is true, but I am not sure.

For individual income tax purposes, the onus is on us to prove that we are entitled to our deductions, etc.

For social security benefit payments, the SSA is the one with the money.
Regarding this statement, I am almost certain that the onus will NOT be on SS to prove anything about the amount a claimant is entitled to receive in the case of a dispute or error. When we file for this benefit, they are going to tell us the amount their records show we are entitled to get, taking into account things like uncovered earnings. If their records are wrong for some reason, I would bet that it will be on the claimant to provide rock-solid evidence of this.
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Nutmeg
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Re: SSA erroneously claims “You have earnings not covered by social security”

Post by Nutmeg »

123 wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 2:44 pm
Nutmeg wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 2:17 pm ...Yes, the earnings shown in the SSA account were what we expect, because for the vast majority of them, the amount shown is the maximum amount subject to social security, and as a result, the exact dollar amount earned doesn’t appear on the statement.
So on the face of it the SSA notice would seem to be correct. If your earnings exceeded the SSA maximum and you worked overseas you would have had earnings not covered by SSA. I don't think its a real issue however.
When I first read the title, that I was my interpretation, too. I recognize that I copied only the title and a few phrases in the notice; the notice itself refers to the following phrases that indicate that the test is not whether one met the maximum, but whether the job itself was subject to Social Security withholding:

“your pension from work not covered by social security,”

“people whose primary job wasn’t covered by Social Security,” and

“a pension from a job for which they didn’t pay Social Security taxes.”

In this case, the work itself was covered by Social Security, and Social Security taxes were withheld whether the work was in a foreign country or not, up to the maximum required.
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Nutmeg
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Re: SSA erroneously claims “You have earnings not covered by social security”

Post by Nutmeg »

Wilderness Librarian wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 2:58 pm
Nutmeg wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 2:24 pm
JayB wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 2:08 pm
When I file for SS benefits in a couple of years, I plan to simply indicate that I am not receiving any pension based on income not subject to SS tax. If they disagree, the onus is on them to prove otherwise.
I would like to believe that your last statement is true, but I am not sure.

For individual income tax purposes, the onus is on us to prove that we are entitled to our deductions, etc.

For social security benefit payments, the SSA is the one with the money.
My interpretation of the matter too,

I started my application for SS a couple of weeks ago. I am subject to the WEP which both myself and the SSA knew. But what counts and what doesn't for WEP calculation was not terribly clear. I tried unsucessfully 4 times in previous years to clarify this. I think I have finally done so and sent SSA the relevant paperwork. Hopefully they will accept this as final but may not. But SSA did have record I would be subject & the local agent gave me a difficult time over the phone. Also they are insistent on seeing original documents not photocopies - so make sure you don't throw anything relevant away.
Thanks for telling us your experience. I am now glad that I didn’t heed advice that I could discard tax returns longer than the length of the statute of limitations for tax fraud!
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Re: SSA erroneously claims “You have earnings not covered by social security”

Post by JayB »

Nutmeg wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 2:24 pm
JayB wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 2:08 pm
When I file for SS benefits in a couple of years, I plan to simply indicate that I am not receiving any pension based on income not subject to SS tax. If they disagree, the onus is on them to prove otherwise.
I would like to believe that your last statement is true, but I am not sure.

For individual income tax purposes, the onus is on us to prove that we are entitled to our deductions, etc.

For social security benefit payments, the SSA is the one with the money.
I called up SSA today and had a long talk about the "You Have Earnings Not Covered by Social Security" notice.

The SSA person went over my record very carefully, including looking in a database for evidence of my receiving a pension (which I do not and will not). He said that this notice does not apply to me and to breathe easy; my actual SS process of applying for benefits will not be impeded by this notice. He also said that SSA gets a LOT of calls about this notice and that it is automatically sent to people who have contributed to 457(b), 403(b), or 401(a) etc. plans (i.e., tax-deferred retirement plans for work at not-for-profit or government organizations). Interestingly, he said this notice is not sent to folks with only 401(k) plans.
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Nutmeg
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Re: SSA erroneously claims “You have earnings not covered by social security”

Post by Nutmeg »

JayB wrote: Fri Aug 12, 2022 4:06 pm
Nutmeg wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 2:24 pm
JayB wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 2:08 pm
When I file for SS benefits in a couple of years, I plan to simply indicate that I am not receiving any pension based on income not subject to SS tax. If they disagree, the onus is on them to prove otherwise.
I would like to believe that your last statement is true, but I am not sure.

For individual income tax purposes, the onus is on us to prove that we are entitled to our deductions, etc.

For social security benefit payments, the SSA is the one with the money.
I called up SSA today and had a long talk about the "You Have Earnings Not Covered by Social Security" notice.

The SSA person went over my record very carefully, including looking in a database for evidence of my receiving a pension (which I do not and will not). He said that this notice does not apply to me and to breathe easy; my actual SS process of applying for benefits will not be impeded by this notice. He also said that SSA gets a LOT of calls about this notice and that it is automatically sent to people who have contributed to 457(b), 403(b), or 401(a) etc. plans (i.e., tax-deferred retirement plans for work at not-for-profit or government organizations). Interestingly, he said this notice is not sent to folks with only 401(k) plans.
Thank you very much for reporting what you learned!

Your result shows that the notice should be reworded because it is erroneous for many people, because having the option to contribute to 457(b), 403(b), or 401(a) etc. plans does not equate with having had no social security taxes withheld for those jobs, as the notice claims.
JayB
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Re: SSA erroneously claims “You have earnings not covered by social security”

Post by JayB »

Nutmeg wrote: Fri Aug 12, 2022 9:34 pm
JayB wrote: Fri Aug 12, 2022 4:06 pm
Nutmeg wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 2:24 pm
JayB wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 2:08 pm
When I file for SS benefits in a couple of years, I plan to simply indicate that I am not receiving any pension based on income not subject to SS tax. If they disagree, the onus is on them to prove otherwise.
I would like to believe that your last statement is true, but I am not sure.

For individual income tax purposes, the onus is on us to prove that we are entitled to our deductions, etc.

For social security benefit payments, the SSA is the one with the money.
I called up SSA today and had a long talk about the "You Have Earnings Not Covered by Social Security" notice.

The SSA person went over my record very carefully, including looking in a database for evidence of my receiving a pension (which I do not and will not). He said that this notice does not apply to me and to breathe easy; my actual SS process of applying for benefits will not be impeded by this notice. He also said that SSA gets a LOT of calls about this notice and that it is automatically sent to people who have contributed to 457(b), 403(b), or 401(a) etc. plans (i.e., tax-deferred retirement plans for work at not-for-profit or government organizations). Interestingly, he said this notice is not sent to folks with only 401(k) plans.
Thank you very much for reporting what you learned!

Your result shows that the notice should be reworded because it is erroneous for many people, because having the option to contribute to 457(b), 403(b), or 401(a) etc. plans does not equate with having had no social security taxes withheld for those jobs, as the notice claims.
Glad to have helped! The SSA person also said that if one has at least 30 years of "substantial" income (i.e., >= $10K in earnings) from which social security taxes were paid, the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) does not apply.
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Nutmeg
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Re: SSA erroneously claims “You have earnings not covered by social security”

Post by Nutmeg »

JayB wrote: Fri Aug 12, 2022 10:16 pm
Nutmeg wrote: Fri Aug 12, 2022 9:34 pm
JayB wrote: Fri Aug 12, 2022 4:06 pm
Nutmeg wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 2:24 pm
JayB wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 2:08 pm
When I file for SS benefits in a couple of years, I plan to simply indicate that I am not receiving any pension based on income not subject to SS tax. If they disagree, the onus is on them to prove otherwise.
I would like to believe that your last statement is true, but I am not sure.

For individual income tax purposes, the onus is on us to prove that we are entitled to our deductions, etc.

For social security benefit payments, the SSA is the one with the money.
I called up SSA today and had a long talk about the "You Have Earnings Not Covered by Social Security" notice.

The SSA person went over my record very carefully, including looking in a database for evidence of my receiving a pension (which I do not and will not). He said that this notice does not apply to me and to breathe easy; my actual SS process of applying for benefits will not be impeded by this notice. He also said that SSA gets a LOT of calls about this notice and that it is automatically sent to people who have contributed to 457(b), 403(b), or 401(a) etc. plans (i.e., tax-deferred retirement plans for work at not-for-profit or government organizations). Interestingly, he said this notice is not sent to folks with only 401(k) plans.
Thank you very much for reporting what you learned!

Your result shows that the notice should be reworded because it is erroneous for many people, because having the option to contribute to 457(b), 403(b), or 401(a) etc. plans does not equate with having had no social security taxes withheld for those jobs, as the notice claims.
Glad to have helped! The SSA person also said that if one has at least 30 years of "substantial" income (i.e., >= $10K in earnings) from which social security taxes were paid, the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) does not apply.
That is great news! Thanks!
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Re: SSA erroneously claims “You have earnings not covered by social security”

Post by ofckrupke »

substantial (SS-covered) earnings is an effectively well defined term.
SSA maintains and each year extends a table that defines the thresholds across the years.
As of today a top-google-hit PDF document with the table embedded including the number for 2022 is at Windfall Elimination Program.

The WEP effect is to reduce the multiplier to the first bend point from 0.9 to as much as as 0.4, which limiting case applies if the year count of substantial SS earnings is less than or equal to 20. If the year count of substantial SS-covered earnings is between 20 and 30 then the factor is prorated between 0.4 and 0.9. If there are >= 30 years of substantial SS earnings then WEP doesn't apply.

Additionally, WEP is capped at one half of the value of any pension associated with non-SS earnings from years that don't meet the substantial SS-covered earning threshold for that year. If the relevant non-SS-covered payrolls funded a defined contribution plan rather than an income pension, SSA has a calculation method to assign a notional pension income from the value of that non-annuitized retirement account and the owner's age.

It doesn't take much web-fu to discover the above, and more, from reliable sources. If you think so then you probably need to advance your skills by practice.
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Nutmeg
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Re: SSA erroneously claims “You have earnings not covered by social security”

Post by Nutmeg »

ofckrupke wrote: Fri Aug 12, 2022 11:24 pm substantial (SS-covered) earnings is an effectively well defined term.
SSA maintains and each year extends a table that defines the thresholds across the years.
As of today a top-google-hit PDF document with the table embedded including the number for 2022 is at Windfall Elimination Program.

The WEP effect is to reduce the multiplier to the first bend point from 0.9 to as much as as 0.4, which limiting case applies if the year count of substantial SS earnings is less than or equal to 20. If the year count of substantial SS-covered earnings is between 20 and 30 then the factor is prorated between 0.4 and 0.9. If there are >= 30 years of substantial SS earnings then WEP doesn't apply.

Additionally, WEP is capped at one half of the value of any pension associated with non-SS earnings from years that don't meet the substantial SS-covered earning threshold for that year. If the relevant non-SS-covered payrolls funded a defined contribution plan rather than an income pension, SSA has a calculation method to assign a notional pension income from the value of that non-annuitized retirement account and the owner's age.

It doesn't take much web-fu to discover the above, and more, from reliable sources. If you think so then you probably need to advance your skills by practice.
Thank you for posting, because this forum exists so that we can all learn from each other!

I believe you are mistaken in the implications of your final paragraph. My questions were how I could convince the SSA of their error, and whether there were implications other than those of the WEP. Therefore, searching for info on the web about the WEP (which doesn’t apply to me) doesn’t answer my questions.

However, I am still glad you posted because perhaps someone else, to whom the WEP does apply, can benefit.
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Re: SSA erroneously claims “You have earnings not covered by social security”

Post by Morgan22 »

Nutmeg wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 1:24 pm On the document “Your Social Security Statement,” the SSA claims in an addendum that “You have earnings not covered by Social Security.” It goes on to say that the work was most likely “for federal, state, or local government or in a foreign country. These earnings are from a job where you or your employer did not pay social security taxes.”
Doesn't your statement say “You may have earnings not covered by Social Security.” (Stressing the word may.) I thought this was just standard language just as a heads up for people to consider.

Image

My DF, who is retired and is subject to WEP has this on his SS statement. My DH and myself also have this wording on our statements. My DH does have earnings not covered by SS but will not be affected by WEP. All of my earnings are covered by SS....
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jeffyscott
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Re: SSA erroneously claims “You have earnings not covered by social security”

Post by jeffyscott »

Morgan22 wrote: Sun Aug 14, 2022 9:58 am
Doesn't your statement say “You may have earnings not covered by Social Security.” (Stressing the word may.)
No, it does not say "may", it states it as a fact, assuming it is this: https://www.ssa.gov/myaccount/assets/ma ... rnings.pdf

It is really ridiculous, if they just send this out to everyone with a 457 or 403(b). But good to know, as that may be the explanation for me, as well.
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Nutmeg
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Re: SSA erroneously claims “You have earnings not covered by social security”

Post by Nutmeg »

jeffyscott wrote: Sun Aug 14, 2022 10:56 am
Morgan22 wrote: Sun Aug 14, 2022 9:58 am
Doesn't your statement say “You may have earnings not covered by Social Security.” (Stressing the word may.)
No, it does not say "may", it states it as a fact, assuming it is this: https://www.ssa.gov/myaccount/assets/ma ... rnings.pdf

It is really ridiculous, if they just send this out to everyone with a 457 or 403(b). But good to know, as that may be the explanation for me, as well.
Same here. It would be fine if it included “may,” but it states it as a fact (which is erroneous.)
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jeffyscott
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Re: SSA erroneously claims “You have earnings not covered by social security”

Post by jeffyscott »

Nutmeg wrote: Sun Aug 14, 2022 12:59 pm
jeffyscott wrote: Sun Aug 14, 2022 10:56 am
Morgan22 wrote: Sun Aug 14, 2022 9:58 am
Doesn't your statement say “You may have earnings not covered by Social Security.” (Stressing the word may.)
No, it does not say "may", it states it as a fact, assuming it is this: https://www.ssa.gov/myaccount/assets/ma ... rnings.pdf

It is really ridiculous, if they just send this out to everyone with a 457 or 403(b). But good to know, as that may be the explanation for me, as well.
Same here. It would be fine if it included “may,” but it states it as a fact (which is erroneous.)
And then they also don't bother to acknowledge the fact that they already know that you (and I) have 30 or more years of substantial earnings covered by Social Security. So they know WEP doesn't apply, in any case. GPO is also moot for me, since I am the higher earner, there'll be no spousal or widower benefits.
rustwood
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Re: SSA erroneously claims “You have earnings not covered by social security”

Post by rustwood »

FWIW, I've had a 403(b) for decades so I just checked my statement and I don't see any such addendum. I just have the standard warning in the earnings section that says I may have earnings not covered by social security. I haven't worked for the government nor in a foreign country though.
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Re: SSA erroneously claims “You have earnings not covered by social security”

Post by adestefan »

Is it the old style green report or the newer red and blue? I wonder if they changed the wording on the newer report style. My red and blue report includes the “may”. I’d have to dig through my files to see what was on the older style report.
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Re: SSA erroneously claims “You have earnings not covered by social security”

Post by jeffyscott »

^ It's not in the person's individual report, it's a separate sheet of paper. I posted a link to a pdf of the document, which I found by just searching for the document number that was on the paper copy that I had received.
adestefan
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Re: SSA erroneously claims “You have earnings not covered by social security”

Post by adestefan »

jeffyscott wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 7:22 am ^ It's not in the person's individual report, it's a separate sheet of paper. I posted a link to a pdf of the document, which I found by just searching for the document number that was on the paper copy that I had received.
The may verbiage is in a box on my report and the fact sheet is shown as a link in the box. In my case I’m assuming it’s because I worked for the government for a bit, but I did pay into SSA.
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jeffyscott
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Re: SSA erroneously claims “You have earnings not covered by social security”

Post by jeffyscott »

adestefan wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 8:06 am
jeffyscott wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 7:22 am ^ It's not in the person's individual report, it's a separate sheet of paper. I posted a link to a pdf of the document, which I found by just searching for the document number that was on the paper copy that I had received.
The may verbiage is in a box on my report and the fact sheet is shown as a link in the box. In my case I’m assuming it’s because I worked for the government for a bit, but I did pay into SSA.
Mine is a paper copy mailed to me. The report has that box and the mailing included the sheet with "You have earnings not covered by Social Security" as the headline.
journey
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Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2021 11:49 am

Re: SSA erroneously claims “You have earnings not covered by social security”

Post by journey »

I, too, received the ‘Noncovered Earnings’ statement with my 2022 Benefits statement last month. Read this https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10045.pdf but am still scratching my head.

• 57 yo and plan to start Social Security (SSA) in 10-13 years.
• Retired in 2021
• 5 years of high school and college jobs (below ‘substantial earnings’ limit) + 25 years of career work (above ‘substantial earnings’ limit).
• Never worked outside of the U.S.
• Do not and will not have a pension
• Never had an employer option to contribute to anything but a 401(k)
• Am not aware of ever not paying into SSA
• I called the SSA. Rep could not tell me the years, employer, etc. being flagged. Said something like, ‘Don’t worry. Everyone gets this.’
• DH has the same bullet list as me except has 30+ years above the ‘substantial earnings’ limit. He did not receive this. Maybe 30 years 'above' is the key rather than the other factors listed by SSA?

1. What are your thoughts on why I received the ‘Noncovered Earnings’ statement?
2. Per the SSA chart at the link above, 25 years corresponds to 65%. Will my SSA benefit will be 65% of previous estimates? Had I worked 30 years would the benefit be 90% of previous estimates?

We are extremely fortunate to have ‘enough’ this young and consider SSA benefits ‘icing on the cake.’ Simply want to understand. Thanks.
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Nutmeg
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Joined: Wed Jul 26, 2017 12:52 pm

Re: SSA erroneously claims “You have earnings not covered by social security”

Post by Nutmeg »

journey wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 3:00 pm I, too, received the ‘Noncovered Earnings’ statement with my 2022 Benefits statement last month. Read this https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10045.pdf but am still scratching my head.

• 57 yo and plan to start Social Security (SSA) in 10-13 years.
• Retired in 2021
• 5 years of high school and college jobs (below ‘substantial earnings’ limit) + 25 years of career work (above ‘substantial earnings’ limit).
• Never worked outside of the U.S.
• Do not and will not have a pension
• Never had an employer option to contribute to anything but a 401(k)
• Am not aware of ever not paying into SSA
• I called the SSA. Rep could not tell me the years, employer, etc. being flagged. Said something like, ‘Don’t worry. Everyone gets this.’
• DH has the same bullet list as me except has 30+ years above the ‘substantial earnings’ limit. He did not receive this. Maybe 30 years 'above' is the key rather than the other factors listed by SSA?

1. What are your thoughts on why I received the ‘Noncovered Earnings’ statement?
2. Per the SSA chart at the link above, 25 years corresponds to 65%. Will my SSA benefit will be 65% of previous estimates? Had I worked 30 years would the benefit be 90% of previous estimates?

We are extremely fortunate to have ‘enough’ this young and consider SSA benefits ‘icing on the cake.’ Simply want to understand. Thanks.
I am just learning myself, but I haven’t found any effect of the WEP on someone who has Noncovered Earnings unless that person has a pension. As you do not and will not have a pension, the WEP shouldn’t apply.
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